With Swoopes gone, young Comets look to veteran Dixon to anchor team

The Houston Comets are relying on Tamecka Dixon's veteran presence to help the team's younger players.

Dixon, who spent nine seasons in Los Angeles before joining the Comets last season, was waived in the offseason and had to wait until after July 1 to re-sign with the team. Now, the Comets want her to help bring some stability to team that has been without star forward Sheryl Swoopes (back injury) since late May.

"She definitely gives us that true veteran on the perimeter," Houston coach Karleen Thompson said. "When Sheryl went down, we didn't have anybody with that kind of stature, that reputation in the league for the younger players just really to look up to. Tamecka came in, and they just latched on to her. ... She's been a leader ever since."

Without Swoopes, All-Star forward Tina Thompson (18.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game) has been the team's only consistent player.

"Somebody has to step in and take the leadership role from the backcourt," Dixon said. "Tina's done a great job, but 90 percent of the time the ball isn't in her hands. So we need to do something from the guard standpoint."

Dixon has averaged 12.4 points and 2.4 assists in seven games this season - her best numbers since scoring 13.7 ppg in 2003 and averaging 3.5 assists in 2004.

"Tamecka's in the best shape of her life," Karleen Thompson said. "She looks like she just came out of the University of Kansas. ... For her to sit and wait till July 1st to come back to Houston says a lot about her character, her strength and just who she is."

Dixon already has been working with second-year point guard Crystal Smith, who is averaging 7.5 points and 29.4 minutes in 13 games as a starter.

 Struggling Fever

Indiana has lost four straight games for the first time since a four-game skid to close the 2004 season. Before the current losing streak, the Fever had gone 89 games without losing three games in a row - the WNBA's longest streak during that stretch.

"We are going to keep watching film to see what we're doing wrong," guard Tan White said. "As a team, we can't get down at this point."

Indiana's streak has coincided with an injury to All-Star forward Tamika Catchings, who injured her foot in an 89-80 loss to Detroit on July 20, the first defeat in the streak.

When the Fever host Washington on Tuesday night, it'll be their seventh game in 12 days.

"The thing that hurts us most is that we don't have any practice time," Winters said. "(Her injury) didn't happen at a great time in our schedule. It's unfortunate but nobody's going to feel sorry for you so we have to keep plugging away and do the best we can."

 Playoff Push?

The Sparks entered the weekend with eight losses in their last nine games, dropping three games behind Seattle for the fourth and last playoff position in the Western Conference.

"If we get five in a row we'll be good," she said. "We have great talent and great heart. We should be coming up with more victories, but we have to get it done. We're going to surprise some people."

In the midst of playing seven straight road games, coach Michael Cooper acknowledged the team is running out of time.

"We keep digging ourselves deeper and deeper in the hole. We're 8-14 now," Cooper said. "You only have so many games. ... If we're going to do it, we've got to do it on the road."

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STATS: Seattle's Lauren Jackson entered the weekend leading the league in scoring (23.8 points per game) and rebounding (10.1). Jackson is also tops in free-throw shooting at 87 percent (112-for-129) among players with at least 100 attempts. ... Minnesota's Seimone Augustus (22.2 points) was second in scoring, followed by San Antonio's Becky Hammon (19.3). ... Indiana's Tamika Catchings was second in rebounding at 9.0 per game. Cheryl Ford was averaging 11.2 rebounds for Detroit, but has played only 15 games due to a knee injury and is out for the rest of the regular season. ... Hammon was tops in assists at 5.3 per game, and Connecticut's Lindsay Whalen (5.1) was second. ... Phoenix's Diana Taurasi led the league with 57 3-pointers made. ... New York's Janel McCarville was averaging 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds in the Liberty's last seven games. ... With Connecticut's 81-79 victory over Houston on Tuesday night, Mike Thibault became the seventh coach in WNBA history to record 100 career victories. Thibault accomplished the feat in 159 games, third-fastest in league history behind Los Angeles' Michael Cooper (124 games) and former Houston coach Van Chancellor (125 games).